It's important not just to choose the right agent to market your property, but also to understand the contract and fees involved.
Tax on seling property
If you’re selling a property that is your main home you won’t have to pay tax on it - provided you satisfy certain conditions. If you’re selling a property that isn’t your main home, it is likely that you will have to pay Capital Gains Tax (CGT).
Tax on the sale of your main home
You do not have to pay tax as long as:
you bought it, and made any expenditure on it, primarily for use as your home rather than with a view to making a profit
the property was your only home throughout the period you owned it (ignoring the last three years of ownership)
you did actually use it as your home all the time that you owned it and, throughout that period, you did not use it for any purpose other than as a home for yourself, your family and no more than one lodger
the garden and area of grounds sold with it does not exceed 5,000 square metres (about one and a quarter acres) including the site of the house
What paperwork do you have to keep?
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) recommends that you keep the following information and documents relating to the property:
contracts for the purchase or sale, lease or exchange of the property
any documentation that describes properties you acquired but did not buy yourself: for example, a gift or an inheritance
details of any property you have given away or put into a trust
copies of any valuations taken into account in your calculation of gains or losses
bills, invoices or other evidence of payment records such as bank statements and cheque stubs for costs you claim for the purchase, improvement or sale of the property
It would also be sensible to keep correspondence with buyers or sellers leading up to the sale of the property.
